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OgilvyOne London is delighted to announce the appointment of Ann Higgins (above) to the new position of Head of Customer Strategy, with immediate effect.

Reporting into Ogilvy EMEA Regional Director of Consulting Mark Inskip, Ann will be responsible for helping to unite the complex skill sets and disciplines of modern marketing and CRM – planning, strategy, data analysis, search, creative, engagement, experience planning and so on – to create strategies for OgilvyOne’s major clients including BT and British Airways.

Ann arrives from OgilvyOne Paris, where she has spent the last year as Director of Experience Planning, working on CRM, consulting, e-commerce, mobile and analytics programmes and as Global Strategy Director (Digital & CRM) on the Nestlé account since 2008.

She began her marketing career in 1998 when she was selected for OgilvyOne parent company WPP’s acclaimed Marketing Fellows programme.

After initial spells in London at WPP agencies JWT, Mindshare and The Henley Centre (now The Futures Company), she joined OgilvyOne in New York in 2001 as a senior Relationship Marketing Consultant and was nominated Partner in 2003. She worked on brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Cisco, SAP, Unilever and Kimberly Clark and led successful new business pitches for the agency’s consulting group.

Mark Inskip said: “This is another fantastic appointment and a welcome addition to an already very strong consulting and planning team.

“Ann has an excellent record as an innovator and strategist on complex accounts and is an expert on addressing and solving challenges, especially in the digital sphere; and her record in helping to grow clients’ business, as well as our own, is second to none.”

OgilvyOne London unveiled its latest campaign last night at a packed London art gallery private view. The campaign, called “Taste”, is for OgilvyOne client Freggo ice-cream, and kicks off with an exhibition at the Menier Gallery.

Taste uses ground-breaking “data visualisation” technology as part of the Sensational Ice Cream campaign for Freggo.

OgilvyOne creative team, Rae Stones and Fiona Sanday, have been working with Andrew Shoben from Greyworld, an art collective renowned for its work in urban spaces, to create a bespoke computer program that captures six core elements of the ice cream flavour, all of which have been validated by the British Society of Flavourists.

The response data (sweetness, richness, creaminess, juiciness and so on) are fed into the program to define how the visuals look.

Visitors to the exhibition can not only view Greyworld’s visualisations of various Freggo flavours, but also create their own, bespoke “artworks’ by feeding their own perceptions into a computer (below).

OgilvyOne London’s chief executive Annette King said: “Freggo is one of those accounts we love having – it offers the opportunity to really stretch our creative muscles. We thought that a new and unique product deserved marketing that was a break from the norm. Enjoying ice-cream is a sensual, almost immersive experience – which is also different for every single person. So why not have advertising which is itself immersive and tailored to the individual’s personal perceptions?

“In collaboration with Greyworld, our creative team, led by joint ECDs Charlie Wilson and Emma de la Fosse, has come up with what we think is a high-impact campaign which will get the brand talked about and which will delight the target audience.”

Charlie and Emma added: “We buy ice-cream based on what it tastes like, or what we think it will taste like. Given that Freggo’s flavours are unusual and distinctive, we wanted to show people what their taste buds experience when trying them for the first time. It’s never been done before so, we developed a taste test with the Gaucho Head of Wine and asked the Society of Flavourists to validate it. The result is six simple questions which you answer based on how you taste each flavour. Your own personalised art is then generated. As no two people taste things in the same way, each piece of art is unique to the individual.”

Martin Williams, operations director at Gaucho Restaurants (that’s him in the white jacket above) said after the event: “OgilvyOne came up with an amazing idea and made huge efforts turn them into reality. The concept and art look fantastic – I am sure that it will continue to get great publicity and drive traffic to Freggo.”

The public are invited to view Taste at the Menier Gallery, London Bridge (www.meniergallery.co.uk) until 16^th April.

The taste test will also be featured at Freggo’s Swallow Street, London store. Customers will be able to take the test, see their art and receive an email with their own artwork or upload it to their Facebook, Twitter or other social media pages and share with friends and family.

You can view a selection of photos from last night’s event – plus posters and other promotional materials – at the Ogilvy Group UK Flickr pages

British Airways today (April 12, 2011), announces the extension of its relationships with two of its lead agencies -OgilvyOne London and Bartle, Bogle Hegarty (BBH).

The announcement follows an internal review and evaluation undertaken by the airline.

OgilvyOne, the airline’s digital and direct agency, will continue in its capacity as British Airways’ global loyalty and below-the-line marketing communications agency. The team will continue to support British Airways’ Executive Club and OnBusiness programmes – and remain the digital and direct agency within Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific regions.

Ian Romanis, British Airways head of customer engagement, says: “Over the last three years we have developed a strong partnership with OgilvyOne and have continued to be impressed by their strategic capability, creativity and value they have added to our business”

Annette King, OgilvyOne London chief executive says: “British Airways is a fantastic brand – one that the whole team here at OgilvyOne are very proud to work with. We’re all thrilled that our partnership has been extended and look forward to producing more great work together in the coming years.”

BBH, who were appointed in 2005, will continue as British Airways global advertising agency, supporting brand communications across the world.